From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Cave
σπήλαιον
spēlaionSpēlaion is a cave or cavern.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSpēlaion is a cave or cavern.
- In StobaeusThe reported Indian cave contains a statue combining male and female sides and becomes the setting for a test of conduct.
- In this edition“Cave” is clear; keep its natural origin distinct from the crafted statue inside it.
- A place to beginA natural cave houses the unusual statue in reported testimony.
- English renderings
- cave
Meaning
Spēlaion is a cave or cavern. Its significance comes from the particular account, not from an automatic association with a philosophical allegory.
Use in the book
The reported Indian cave contains a statue combining male and female sides and becomes the setting for a test of conduct. The cave is described as naturally occurring. Nothing in this passage identifies it with Plato’s cave or licenses replacing the unnamed statue with a confidently named deity.
Places to read
- I.3.56cA natural cave houses the unusual statue in reported testimony.
Translation in this edition
“Cave” is clear; keep its natural origin distinct from the crafted statue inside it.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 67–68. The narrative reaches Stobaeus through Porphyry’s quotation of Bardisanes, which preserves a further layer of reported speech.
From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Cave
ἄντρον ὑπόστεγον (antron hypostegon)
Antron is a cave or cavern; hypostegon characterizes it as covered or roofed.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAntron is a cave or cavern; hypostegon characterizes it as covered or roofed.
- In EmpedoclesB120 says that “we” came into this roofed cave.
- In this editionThe ellipsis leaves the sentence incomplete.
- A place to readA first-person plural announces entry into a roofed cave.
Meaning
Antron is a cave or cavern; hypostegon characterizes it as covered or roofed. The surviving phrase is spatial and architectural. Its meaning should not be replaced without argument by a technical term for the body or material universe.
Use in the book
B120 says that “we” came into this roofed cave. That first-person plural suggests a shared arrival, but the quotation breaks off immediately. It does not identify the travellers, say from where they came, or name the cave's location. In the surrounding arrangement it follows laments of exile and precedes the catalogue of personifications. This invites a reading of the cave as an image of mortal existence, but the arrangement itself cannot prove that setting.
The quotation is transmitted by Porphyry in a work about a cave. That source is important evidence for ancient reception, yet its allegorical interests should not become unmarked statements by Empedocles. Nor should Plato's later cave image be imposed retroactively. Empedocles' few words are compatible with an evocative scene of entry and enclosure without supplying the particular epistemological drama familiar from Plato.
Places to read
- B 120A first-person plural announces entry into a roofed cave.
Translation in this edition
The ellipsis leaves the sentence incomplete. B94 also mentions caves in this book, but only in a Latin rendering about shadow and colour; that optical context does not explain B120's cave.